September 2020 Employment Situation Analysis
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Jobs Report, the unemployment rate fell from 8.4% to 7.9% overall and payroll employment rose 661,000 in September, the previous 4 months had larger gains. The improvements are a result of the resumption of economic activity post Covid 19 efforts to contain the virus. The increases were seen in hospitality/leisure, retain, healthcare and social assistance.
The number of unemployed declined by 1M to 12.6M in September. Both the number of unemployment rate and number of unemployed continued to decline as it has for the last 5 months.
Unemployment rates declined in August for:
Adult Men-7.4%
Adult Women-7.7%
Teenagers-15.9%
Whites-7.0%
Blacks-12.1%
Hispanics-10.3%
The number of unemployed who were jobless:
Less than 5 weeks increased by 271,000 to 2.6M
5 to 14 weeks decreased by 402,000 to 2.7M
Long term unemployment (27+ weeks) increased by 781,000 to 2.4M.
The labor force participation decreased .3% to 61.4% but still 2% behind where we were in February.
Total employment rose by 3.8M to 147.3M
In August, the number of people who usually work:
-Full time rose 2.8M to 122.4M
-Part time declined by 1.3M to 6.3M reflecting a decrease in number of people with decrease work hours due to business conditions. The number of people working part time, involuntarily due to business conditions, is 2M more than in February.
-In September 22.7% of employed workers telecommuted due to the Covid pandemic, a decrease of 1.61% from August.
-19.4M workers reported that they were unable to work because their employers had closed or reduced schedules due to pandemic, a 5M decrease from August. 10.3% of these workers received some sort of pay from their employers.
Employment stats:
-Employment in Healthcare increased 53,000 with continued growth in physician offices, home health over August but is still down 1.0M since February with gains in:
-Physician offices-18,000
-Hospitals-
-Home health-16,000
-Financial activities added 37,000 jobs om September
-Real-estate- 20,000 increase
-Employment in Education and health services increased by 47,000 but is still 1.5M below February level
-Government job increased 344,000
-Retail jobs increased 142,000, yet 483,000 lower than February
-Professional and business services jobs increased 89,000
-Leisure and hospitality jobs increased 318,000 with 2/3 of the gain in restaurant and bar services. Despite the gain of 3.8M over the last 5 months employment in this sector is still down 2.3M since February.
-Car dealer/parts jobs increased 16,000
-Business support services jobs increased 13,000 yet 1.5M below February
Surprisingly, many organizations have found that despite the crisis, their strategies are still fundamentally valid. The years-long repositioning toward more consumer-centric, technology aided care has not been cancelled, it has accelerated. Many CEO’s are more focused on these commitments. There is a renewed focus on charge capture enablement, denial management efficiency and payor contract compliance.
Keeping the workforce engaged will be key. Our clients are telling us that the C-suite is being closely monitored as healthcare organizations will need to execute faster. There is speculation that there will be significant consolidation and that the size of an average provided system will double as large systems grow and small systems fold.
When talking to our clients, a safe return to work is the priority, the workforce is under tremendous strain. The furloughs, layoffs and benefit reductions are underway, leaving employees further traumatized. They need to perform better than ever, doing more work, sometimes remotely and rising to new challenges. The talent imperative must be at the top of every health executive’s agenda, with a plan to re-energize, upskill and flex their teams.
It is becoming more common for executives to wear more than one hat and ask their employees to do more with less. We are seeing more facilities/practices align with a business partner to evaluate staff productivity and consistency or completely resolve staffing gaps and needs. Critical jobs are being released yet many people are reluctant to make a move as there is continued concern regarding the impact of Covid in the fall due to flu season
Action steps to manage the change:
1) Create a plan to ensure health and safety of your patients’ visitors and publicize. This will help build confidence in the employees and patients.
2) Leverage current staff/cross train for vacancies when have critical roles to fill. Ensure there is a fit for the long term by doing skills assessments.
3) Consider Interim placement for immediate critical needs and new service lines, i.e. Telehealth.
The full text of the BLS monthly jobs report can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
